Modern large acreage seeding implements pneumatically deliver particulate materials, such as seed, fertilizer, and/or other product, to fields. By way of example, the seeding implement may take the form of an air cart and an air drill combination which is pulled behind a tractor to deliver the product(s). Different seeding styles can be implemented by using different openers on the air drills. For example, knife, ribbon band, ribbon band sweep, double-shoot, and disk openers may be used for different seeding styles in order to can open correspondingly different styles of furrows to receive the seed. The air cart includes one or more storage compartments that hold product(s), each of which has an associated metering box. Each metering box divides the products from the associated storage compartments into equal sections. The equal sections of products from selected storage compartments are sequentially delivered to a run wherein the equally divided products are entrained in an airflow established by a fan. Once entrained in the run, the equal sections of products are directed from the air cart, through manifolds and distribution lines, to the air drill, wherein the products are distributed.
In order to facilitate the delivery of the metered product to the desired run, a collector assembly is often used. By way of example, Fuessel et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,599 discloses a collector assembly mounted below a product supply tank for receiving plural streams of materials metered from the tank. Individual upright passages through the body corresponding in number to the metered streams from the tank receive the gravitating product streams and direct each stream into either or both of an upper loading zone and a lower loading zone in the passage. A diverter valve associated with each upper loading zone can be set to close off the upper loading zone entirely while opening only the lower zone or closing off the lower loading zone while opening only the upper loading zone. Thus, air streams or runs passing transversely through the upper and lower loading zones respectively can be supplied with variable amounts of metered product, depending upon the position of the diverter valve within each passage. By providing multiple supply tanks and multiple collector assemblies, various product delivery scenarios can be achieved including single shoot, double shoot and triple shoot effects.
While functional for its intended purpose, the collector assembly disclosed in the '599 patent has certain limitations. For example, the calibration and cleanout of the collector assemblies can be both difficult and time consuming. More specifically, in order to effectuate such a cleanout, the floor of each collector assembly must be removed by unscrewing a plurality of wing nuts, thereby causing the floor of the collector assembly to drop out. The diverter valves for the collector assembly are then adjusted so as allow the contents of the overhead tank to drop straight through the collector assembly passing the upper loading zone. Similarly, calibration of the metering box is achieved in a manner similar to the cleanout operation. More specifically, the floor of a collector assembly is removed and replaced with a calibrating receptacle. Product can be run through the metering mechanism of the metering box and discharged directly into the calibrating container for measurement. Desired adjustments of the metering mechanism may then be carried out.
Therefore, it is a primary object and feature of the present invention to provide a run selection mechanism for an air seeder which allows product to be introduced into a selected one of a plurality of pneumatic runs without disturbing the air flow/product flow already therein.
It is a further object and feature of the present invention to provide a run selection mechanism for an air seeder wherein the cleanout thereof is simpler and less time consuming than prior mechanisms.
It is a still further object and feature of the present invention to provide a run selection mechanism for an air seeder which allows a user to simply and easily calibrate a metering box attached thereto.